About Maggie's

Goals and Objectives

Maggie's Centres help you adjust to living with cancer.

We are open to anyone, whether you are diagnosed with cancer, or a family member, friend or carer.

We provide high quality, evidence-based psychological support.

Our aim is to help you achieve a psychologically healthy adjustment to your diagnosis and treatment.

Our programme encourages you to feel more in control of your life and to gain the confidence to live with hope and determination.

Maggie's programme is supportive of your medical care and complementary to it.

Our services are free, not time limited and easily accessible. Our Centres are built in close proximity to major cancer centres and cancer units.

We aim to highlight the need for psychological and emotional support within the NHS and to influence health care strategy and practice nationwide.

The domestic scale and imaginative environment of our Centres are a key part of our programme.  They are places for you to be yourself, not a hospital patient.

How Maggie's programme helps you

Maggie's programme has five core elements in a supportive non-institutional environment:

Emotional & psychological support
Relaxation & stress management
Information
Benefits advice
Other support for living with cancer, such as nutrition and groups for particular cancers

We provide support by encouraging, motivating and teaching. You will have time to clarify and address issues that can arise in the face of cancer diagnosis.

We help you to develop specific coping strategies and skills to enable you to manage the impact of cancer and to access information.

We aim to help you develop a map to provide direction and structure in respect of your cancer journey through access to resources and information.

We recognise that many people are initially overwhelmed by the enormity of a cancer diagnosis. Maggie’s can be a safe place where you feel supported until you feel ready to engage actively with our programme.

Evaluating the programme

Maggie's programme is evidence based and tailored to the expressed needs of people with cancer. To ensure we are delivering the best possible service the programme is continually evaluated at several levels.

Annual audit

An audit of user satisfaction is held on an organisation wide basis every year. Regular audits of aspects of the service are also conducted both by individual Centres and across the programme.

Programme review

The programme is reviewed by an independent cancer specialist on a tri-annual basis.

How we are governed

Maggie's Centres are governed by Maggie Keswick Jencks Cancer Caring Centres Trust and is a company limited by guarantee. 

It has a Board of Directors Chaired by Nigel Cayzer, with Marcia Blakenham as Vice-Chairman.

An Audit Committee, Property Committee, Nominations Committee and Remuneration Committee report to the Board.  The Chief Executive is a Director of the Board.

The Executive team consists of Laura Lee, Chief Executive; Sarah Beard, Business Development Director; Allison Wood, Finance Director; Frances Milner, Fundraising Director and Marie McQuade Communications Director.

Head Office
The Stables
Western General Hospital
Crewe Road
Edinburgh
EH4 2XU

Tel: 0131 537 2456

Registered charity SC024414